Salient objects in the visual field tend to attract attention and the eyes. However, recent evidence has shown that salience affects visual selection only during the short time interval immediately following the onset of a visual scene (Donk & van Zoest, 2008). The aim of the present study was to further examine the short-lived nature of salience effects. In a series of experiments, we investigated how the salience of different orientation singletons affected probe reaction time as a function of Stimulus Onset Asynchrony (SOA) between the presentation of a singleton display and a probe display. It was tested whether the transient nature of salience effects could be explained by (1) people using a specific attentional set acting against the maintenance of salience, (2) response priming, or (3) eye movements. The results demonstrated that these factors could not explain the short-lived nature of salience effects. The results were discussed in terms of current models
on visual selection.